Many people spend time in the sun each day, and by way of example, some construction workers may be continuously exposed to strong sunlight for eight hours a day. This prolonged exposure can lead to a number of physical problems. The sun exposure can at a minimum cause a sunburn of the skin, but over a long period of time, repeated over-exposure to the sun may well result in skin cancer. Exposure to the sun is particularly critical in certain regions of the southern hemisphere, for example, where depletion of the ozone layers has made it highly desirable for head protection to be worn by almost everyone venturing outside during periods of the day when the sun's rays are most intense.
I am aware that various headgear arrangements of this general type have been proposed in the past, and by way of example, the Brown U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,507 entitled "Headgear Accessory Attachment" provides members that are attachable to certain headgear, to accomplish a shielding of the wearer's ear and neck areas from the sun.
The Yun U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,113 entitled "Visored Cap with Front, Side and Rear Shades" teaches an elaborately configured visored cap collapsibly supporting a front shade and side shades, thus to protect certain head portions of the wearer from the sun. Of some interest is the fact that side shades utilized in the Yun device are divided into a front portion and a rear portion, with the rear portions in some embodiments being once again divided.
The Clement U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,943 entitled "Weather-Shield Hat Accessory" teaches the use of a flexible weather-shield that can be attached to a wide variety of hats by the use of VELCRO, which is generically known as a hook and loop fastener.
Many of these arrangements have proven to be generally satisfactory, although the cost of some has been rather large. Even more significant in some instances is the fact that if a wearer merely wants to protect his ears from the direct rays of the sun, the elaborate arrangements in accordance with the prior art may make the head quite warm, and bring about a profuse amount of perspiration.
It was in an effort to improve upon these prior art arrangements that the present invention was evolved.